NEW ORLEANS — The Xavier University of Louisiana
women's basketball program is in a familiar spot: near the top of the
Gulf Coast Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll.
The Gold
Nuggets — who qualified for the NAIA Division
I National Championship 13 of the past 15 seasons — are second in the
2009-10 poll, which was announced Wednesday. They received two first-place votes
and finished in the top two for the seventh time in eight seasons.
Loyola, the three-time defending regular-season champion,
finished first in the poll and received seven first-place votes. The Nuggets
will play Loyola on Jan. 25 at The Barn and Feb. 18 at Loyola.
Xavier was 23-9 in 2008-09 and finished third
behind Loyola and LSU-Shreveport in the GCAC regular season.
The Nuggets will open the regular season at 5 p.m. Oct. 30 against
Talladega in the Port City Tip-Off Classic at Mobile, Ala.
The first home game will be a Nov. 7 exhibition against the
New Orleans Lady Hurricanes, and the first regular-season home game
will be Nov. 9 against LeMoyne-Owen.
The Nuggets return 11 letterwomen from this
past season, including seniors Brittany Powell — an honorable-mention
NAIA Division I All-American — and LaTashia Wise

The Xavier Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets compete in Division I of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) as a member of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC). Xavier fields men's teams
in basketball, cross country and tennis and women's teams in basketball, cross country, tennis and volleyball.